Scotland to introduce 'managed isolation' for all international arrivals

All international travellers arriving directly in Scotland by air will need to enter managed isolation from Monday, the transport secretary has said.

Passengers will be required to quarantine under supervision for 10 days - a time period during which they will be tested on two separate occasions.

Michael Matheson updated MSPs on the measures this afternoon, adding the Scottish Government wants a "comprehensive approach to managed isolation".

The approach goes further than the UK Government, which has set up a system of hotel quarantine for returning residents from 33 red-listed countries.

Matheson said the reason for this was because of global shortcomings in identifying new variants through genomic sequencing.

"With very limited genomic sequencing going on globally, data on new variants is unreliable," he said in the Scottish Parliament.

"It's very hard to say with confidence where the high-risk countries are, even for the variants we know about.

"That's why, presiding officer, the Scottish Government wants a comprehensive approach to managed isolation.

"So from Monday we will require all international travellers arriving directly on flights into Scotland to enter managed isolation.

"This goes further than the measures announced by the UK health secretary earlier this afternoon.

"The UK Government has only committed to adopting this for travellers returning from red-listed countries.

"We know that is not sufficient and we have therefore gone further.

"We believe all international travellers - with some limited exceptions - should meet the requirement to isolate in managed facilities."

Six hotels close to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports, with a combined capacity of 1300 rooms, have been identified for the programme.

Passengers flying to Scotland from overseas will be required to book and pay for mandatory isolation through an online portal, which will go live on Thursday.

Matheson also said the cost of the first travellers in a room would be £1,750 with supplements for additional family members.

The booking includes a mandatory testing regime, with all arrivals to be tested twice - on day two and day eight after arrival.